


The Happiest Ending

by Slumber



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, M/M, Written Pre-Half Blood Prince
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-11-13
Updated: 2011-11-13
Packaged: 2021-03-06 23:00:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,463
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26406889
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Slumber/pseuds/Slumber
Summary: He is the pureblooded Slytherin son of a Death Eater, quiet, intelligent, (beautiful), and one day he spies for the Order.
Relationships: Theodore Nott/Harry Potter
Comments: 4
Kudos: 22
Collections: 30-minute Writer's Block Challenge





	The Happiest Ending

**Author's Note:**

> A once-written drabble, revisited.

i.

Harry doesn't know what to think when he walks into the Order of the Phoenix headquarters and finds himself face to face with Theodore Nott.

"He's a Slytherin!" he yells, protesting and struggling against the hold Remus Lupin has around his arms, his waist, anything to keep him from lunging after the thin, scrawny boy with the dark hair and the quiet, unnerved gaze. 

"He's one of us now, Harry," Remus tells him. "He wants to help us."

"And you trust him?" Harry asks, appalled. "He's one of _them_." He can't take his eyes off his tie, green-and-silver, nor the way he holds himself--distanced, apart from them. There is nothing in his stance that tells him yes, he can trust him, even though he can never once recall Theodore Nott standing among Draco Malfoy's posse, nor can he bring to mind any single instance that Theodore Nott had said anything unkind to Hermione, or any of the Muggleborns, or even to Neville and Luna and Ron, who were pure as they came but were still regarded with jeers even among the others.

"Dumbledore trusts him," is all Remus says, and then Harry knows, yes, that is enough. That is the proof they need. If Dumbledore trusts a man, after all-- if Dumbledore can trust Snape, then what was another one like him? A younger wizard, a quieter one, a young boy who even now had not taken his eyes off Harry.

"I don't," Harry says, even though everyone knows by now the words are more out of stubbornness than belief. He'll keep his eyes on Nott, he decides, even if Dumbledore and the rest of the Order feel comfortable around him.

ii. 

Theodore Nott grows up as any other pureblooded boy whose father was under Lord Voldemort's command does, he tells Harry. This confession comes unsolicited--Harry is in the middle of drawing up plans to attack when he hears this from Theodore, and he blinks at him, silent and jaw gaping, before realizing he should probably say something in return.

"Okay," is his brilliant response.

"I'm not surprised Draco's doing all he can to please Him," Theodore says. "And my father thinks I am doing the very same thing."

At those words Harry's blood runs cold. "They know you're here?"

Theodore gives him a queer look. "If they didn't, do you suppose I'd still be alive?"

That much is true, Harry realizes. "Then how do they know which side you're truly on?"

"Professor Snape tells me you didn't take to your Occlumency lessons very well," he says. "I did."

It is not the first time Harry feels dumb around Theodore Nott. He hates to admit it, but Theodore knows more about the Death Eaters than he could ever hope to discover; he understands them on a level that they cannot. Even with Snape the knowledge they have gathered has doubled, with Theodore. There are simply some things that Snape cannot be privy to, but which Theodore can reach, either due to his stealth, or the ability by which he can make himself unseen. 

Harry doesn't understand how Theodore does it--since he came to Hogwarts he has found it impossible to be anywhere people won't see him. His life is on spotlight, every movement broadcast to a ravenous public. Even among friends he feels central. With Theodore it is different--he keeps to the shadows, never speaking unless necessary, never revealing his thoughts unless it is to change everyone else's. 

They can use a wizard like him in the Order, Harry thinks, and then he smiles ruefully. They _are_ , he realizes.

iii. 

The Zabinis are neutral as the grays at dusk and dawn, between day and night. The Malfoys are entrapped and tangled in their own blind lust for power and glory, with Draco caught in a web of his own foolish doing. The Parkinsons are in it for the money. The Greengrasses are involved without their knowledge. 

This Theodore tells the Order before he furnishes them with proof of his claim. There, an Italian document sealed with the Zabini name detailing the business dealings of Mrs Zabini with both Death Eaters and Order members. She sells to the highest bidder, Theodore says, and as soon as trouble arrives she'll make for the nearest sanctuary. Greece, he ventures, as the family has a villa there. From another scroll he unravels the details of the Malfoys' involvement. They are housing the Dark Lord and his Death Eaters in the Manor. Lucius has given up his wand, Narcissa her gardens. That's where Charity Burbage disappeared into. I am sorry, Theodore says, but there was nothing could be done. She is gone, and they are moving into Hogwarts next.

Pius Thicknesse, he points out, is under the Imperius Curse. He is not one of them but he very well may be regardless. They are colluding with Dolores Umbridge; whatever Dumbledore does the wheels are already in motion. They will place Death Eaters in the school or face attack.

"There's no way we'll get out of this one way or another," Harry argues long before everyone else has already left. "You can't imagine they won't do anything once they're inside Hogwarts."

"No, that is exactly as they want," Theodore agrees. "But what do you propose we do? Resist and fight when our own numbers are as pathetic as they are? When does Hagrid return? In a fortnight? In a month? Will he ever?"

Harry snarls, tells him not to say that--truth is they haven't heard from Hagrid since they sent him to the giants, and the worry that he won't return is there, niggling at the back of their minds and settling in the pit of their stomachs, sickening and churning. Theodore doesn't even blink. He never seems caught off-guard by anything Harry ever does, never even seems threatened when he brandishes his wand, or curls his fists against his robes, or pins him to the wall. "Take it back," Harry demands. "Take it _back_."

"I'm only saying what everyone else is thinking," Theodore says, his eyes glimmering with a hint of something that catches Harry by surprise. It is the first time he sees Theodore express emotion, and if he isn't mistaken it looks a lot like--

When he kisses Theodore it is only because it seems to him the most natural thing in the world, to press lips upon his as his body is already against Theodore's. Theodore doesn't move back, doesn't jerk away; he only moves his hands up to hold Harry by his arms and kisses him back.

iv. 

Theodore Nott spies for the Order, Harry realizes, because he is smarter than his peers. He knows what they cannot see, blinded as they are by years of purist propaganda and Muggle prejudice. He comes to spy for the Order because he is sickened by the hatred, the lemming-like echoing of sentiment, even as he is forced to spew the same drivel anytime he is with his father or his Lord or his peers.

"How do you stand it?" he asks Theodore, late one night while they are tangled in bed, the sheets snaking around their legs. 

"It's easy to lie if you can see a grain of truth behind it," Theodore says, and at Harry's confused sound he adds: "There is a grain of truth behind everything. Those are the best lies."

v.

Harry doesn't understand what Theodore means until the day in battle, when they find they do have the numbers but that the Death Eaters have turned all of Hogwarts against them with well-placed Imperius Curses. He is grappling for something to hold, struggling to get back on his feet, desperate to find help, friends, Theodore.

"Harry!"

He tips forward, but he is held upright by a strong pair of arms around him. "Remus, Sirius--" he gasps, smoke and debris and despair filling his lungs with a throbbing, itchy sort of ache. "We have to--"

"It's all right," Theodore whispers, smoothing back his hair, murmuring in his ear as he sets Harry down. 

"Don't-- I have to--" 

"You have to stay here," Theodore tells him. "I'm sorry," he whispers in his ear.

"About what?" Harry wants to know, grabbing the front of Theodore's robes and curling his fingers tight so he doesn't leave. "Theodore--"

Theodore's lips are upon him in the next instant, and for a moment Harry lets himself forget, lets himself take whatever comfort he can get from the warmth of his mouth, the heat of his skin.

He never considers that maybe, just maybe, Theodore actually believed Voldemort's cause, so when Theodore begs his forgiveness another time, whispers Avada Kedavra before he can stop him, it is already too late.

Harry dies kissing Theodore.

**Author's Note:**

> Please consider donating to local organizations who support trans individuals in your area.


End file.
